Welcome to Kuu Ipo!

I just got a sim!

I’ve named it Kuu Ipo.  Ku’uipo means “my sweetheart” in Hawaiian.  I thought about what to name my sim for quite a while, and I know it makes more business sense to name your sim the same as your business? But I followed my heart, instead, and chose a name for it that I love.

I’m hoping to share all this space with a few people, so if you’ve been looking for land to rent for your store, I just might have a new home for you! I’m renting out a couple of quarter sims and another parcel that is a bit over an 8th of a sim. Kuu Ipo will be the main location for my own store, Mela’s, as well as the recently revived pose store Poseur, which is co-owned by a team of pose designers. The sim adjoins the popular Juicy Estates area (with sims like Malt, Juicy, Juicy Mirabella, Yabu, and more for neighbors) and is directly side by side with the Juicy De Costa sim.

I am still working on the sim, but here are a few shots and a short video of what’s there so far. Decorating the sim is proving to be a lot of fun!

If you’re interested in renting, please let me know! You can IM me in-world, my SL name is Melanie774 Kidd. Or, you can leave a comment on this post and I’ll get back to you when I’m online again.

Please feel free to visit the sim!  Kuu Ipo 120, 128, 23

016 to 020 of 365

More of my Project 365 shots.

Day 16 of 365, dancing on the moon.
I found out that the Life Is Good sim is actually going to remain open for another month! Porta Fosse happened to be present at the sim so I asked him, and he said it’s scheduled to close on February 15, not January 15th as I’d previously thought.

While I was there, my Plurk friend Quaintly appeared and I watched in amusement as her little green arrow on my mini-map chased his green arrow down, lol.

By the way, speaking of Plurk!  Plurk is fun, there’s tons of SL’ers on there and it’s become a great tool for networking, getting to know your SL acquaintances a little better, or sometimes it’s just good for laughs.  It’s also addictive and they’ve sort of made it into a kind-of-game by awarding “karma points” for your activity.  I’m currently trying to enlist three more people so that I can unlock the “idiot” smilie (lol) sooooo… if you don’t have a Plurk account and want one, please please sign up using my link?!  CLICK CLICK, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO HELP ME GET MY SPECIAL SMILIES!

Day 17 of 365, baby pose.
Yes, I’ve become obsessed with my Zooby baby.

The baby has an AO built in so that when you ‘attach’ it, you can opt to have it sleeping in your arms, etc. The AO doesn’t touch the avatar legs, though, so you will have the noobish looking default anims on the bottom half of the av (but there is a nicely done walk anim included).

Getting my av to pose like this was slightly tricky, because my av’s head kept moving every which way and then her eyes wouldn’t focus where I wanted them to.

I finally got it though, and now I’m kind of toying with the idea of making baby poses.  Just for fun.

Day 18 of 365, last day of WinterChoice.
Carson and I went to the WinterChoice Event Hall to do some last minute exchanging of cards.

I <3 Carson

Day 19 of 365, me and Baby Coqui with our new friends.
I blogged about my visit to Innsmouth on a previous post, you can read about it here!

Day 20 of 365, I snuck a quick pic with Carson while we were both logged in. I wasn’t in SL very much on this day, and this was the only picture I took. I think Carson doesn’t like this picture, oops!

So there you have it, my latest set of five images for my 365 project.  :)  I’d originally intended for my 365 to consist exclusively of simple, unedited shots straight out of SL.  I quickly discovered that I sometimes want to play with the images, however, whether it’s simply cleaning up some sharp corners on the avatar body or just enhancing the light a little bit.  It’s fun!

I’m really just kind of fumbling about, though, when I play with filters and layers and what not.  Hell, I only just recently discovered how you can get more control over your black and white image by playing with the different channels under Hue/Saturate!  (Carson taught me that ) (PS CS3 has a black and white conversion tool that’s pretty neat, too.)

Hopefully, if I stick this project out and see it all the way through, I will see some kind of measure of improvement in my pics.  Hopefully.  :-P

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Some style credits…

Image 017:

Hair – Truth, Belinda
Nightie – Edelweiss, Night Wear Irie

Image 019:

Hair – Maitreya, Sasha
Top – MNK Shop, Knit Sweater Red
Jeans – Armidi Limited, A001 Jeans, black classic
Glasses – House of Curios, Rectangle Framed Glasses #001

Image 020:

Hair – LAQ, Tess (must be worn with a hairbase skin)

My skin is from LAQ.

006 – 010 for Project 365

Still catching up on my Project 365 posts.  ^_^

Day 6 of 365. Shot on the Life Is Good sim.

What is your favorite color?

I’ve always found this to be an interesting question, because favored colors, scents, tastes, etc. are always changing as you evolve as a person, or move through the days and events that map out life.

I’m somewhat inconsistent when it comes to selecting a favorite color. I like red a lot, especially a deep, rich, blood red; words like ‘vibrant’ and ‘passionate’ come to mind when I picture that hue. And then there’s the happy, almost fragrant and frolicsome quality of green.

But every now and then, there are moments when the contemplative serenity of blue is really soothing. <3

Day 7 of 365, nap with Baby Coqui.

Afternoon nap pose with my baby  (I don’t do the whole motherhood roleplaying thing, but omg having a Zooby baby is like the ultimate prop LOL.  The babies are ridiculously cute!!!  If you want to find out more about them, read Gogo’s blog!)

Day 8 of 365. Towing my zooby baby around while exploring the *little kasiopaya* Planets & Art Labyrinth.

I saw this location on M Linden’s flickrstream and had to come check it out for myself.

Day 9 of 365, dream.

My avatar’s eyes shut right at the moment I shot this, and it seemed appropriate.

Day 10 of 365, taking refuge.

The word ‘refuge’ fits with this image in a lot of different ways. He knows why. <3

Some style credits…

Image 006 & 007:
Hair - fri.day, Neva.2
Dress (lol a very SHORT one) – Luck Inc., Tankdress 50L Friday Nerdieh
Jeans – Armidi Limited, A001 Jeans Regular Classic
Shoes – UBU, Drunks
Image 006 was shot on the Life Is Good sim. You should make time to visit this sim, because Porta Fosse will be closing it down on January 15. Don’t miss it!

Image 008 & 009:
Hair – Exile, Jane
Outfit – COCO, WinterCSR Choice prize
Boots – Reek, Autumn boots Red 50L Friday

Image 010:
Dress – TRUTH Martini dress, group gift

My skin is from LAQ.

Project 365

I saw a few Plurk friends starting their own “Project 365″ on New Year’s Day, and I figured I’d start my own, too. In case you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s basically just a project where you take one shot per day, for an entire year. I actually tried doing something like this in RL a few years back and it’s pretty difficult to keep up with; I gave up roughly 30 days into it.  I think it’ll be easier to stick to in SL.

I’d originally intended for my entire 365 to be comprised of purely in-world, unprocessed shots… but I eventually yielded to the desire to retouch some sharp avatar corners when I took my latest picture with my prim baby, lol. Anyway, here are the first five days’ worth of shots I’ve taken:

001.  Checking out some neat driftwood at G-Field.

002.  Working at LAQ is a huge, huge part of my SLife. I’ve been working here for over two years, from when it was originally called RaC.

Handing in my work application to Mallory and Winter was one of the best SL decisions I’ve ever made. They’re among the nicest people I know of in SL and they’ve done so much for me, I don’t think I could ever really repay their kindness.

003.  One of the best parts of my SL is my partner, Carson Koenkamp. <3

Who knew that the random guy I decided to say ‘hello’ to almost three years ago at Mill Pond would turn out to be one of my best friends?  Grabbed this shot while we were hanging out in our sweet little home in the sky this evening.

004.  Running through the jungle.

I was taking pics with my friend Vivi in some of the Costa Rica sims. We recently bought some hot new tribal type outfits from Bare Rose and were taking pics for a blog post.  (I tend to do this a lot xD  Take a bunch of shots for a blog post and then end up not posting for maybe a couple of weeks.)

005.  Move toward light; Ahern Welcome Area, for the Rashomon Project group.  (This is a group started by Queen Coronet that is basically about a bunch of people all depicting the same subject but with their own spin on it.  If that sounds like your sort of thing, please join!  :) )

I crashed twice while taking shots here; one of my attempts included shadows. I gave up after the second crash and decided to stick with this image ~.~  No post-processing was done on this shot.

Look of the Day: Three Goddesses from Blowpop

Annyka Bekkers, the talented designer behind the Blowpop brand, has released another fresh batch of tasty apparel items that you’re going to want to devour.  I was really tempted to cram it all into one huge post, but I decided I want to focus on each set separately because, frankly, I think her work deserves that kind of attention.

I’ve incorporated her Three Goddesses Tank & Panty set into this “look of the day” post.  Featuring the Tridevi of the three Hindu goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati, the tank top is an eye-catching burst of colors that I knew I immediately wanted to pair up with jeans, my new Moccasin boots and Lennon glasses from Naughty, and my new hairstyle from Maitreya.

Click the images to view larger versions.

The Three Goddesses tank top comes in two lengths, and on a variety of clothing layers.  Yay for options like this!  You can mix and match with other clothing articles and/or tattoos, and decide whether you’re in the mood to show some midriff with those low waisted jeans. 

Going on to the other items in my LOTD photo:  I’m really glad Lost Thereian has started creating new items for the Naughty brand.  I’m pretty much in awe of his skill and attention to details.

I have a preference for glasses that are all primwork (it’s just a personal thing, really; I’ve also seen some very good-looking texture-type glasses) and so I was happy to find out that the Lennon glasses are all sculpted prims.  The prims that make up the wireframes are thin, delicate sculpts and I actually didn’t realize they were sculpted until I looked at them closely.  Call me spoiled, though; I’m used to buying scripted glasses that let me switch the position of the frames, control the texture color and opacity, etc.  These glasses are Copy/Modify, though, so I was able to make the tint on them lighter in about three seconds and I’m sure making a copy adjusted to fit up on my hair will be just as simple.    The glasses have really cute color names, too; names like Strawberry Fields Forever and Imagine (mine is Black Dog).  Carson bought the aviators, and they look great, too; I’m tempted to go back and buy a pair for myself!

I almost didn’t get the moccasin fringe boots because there weren’t any demos available in the store.  But, after a couple of visits to the shop that was spent looking at them longingly, I decided what the hell, I’ll just buy them… and I’m glad I did!  These boots do not require a system shoe base, and they’re Copy/Modify.  The fringe on them has great movement since they’re actually textured onto flexi prims.  The fringe texture also has a bit of shadow added to it, creating a look of realism that I really admire.

Finishing off my LOTD is the Green hairstyle from Maitreya.  I felt the slightly tousled look of it, with it’s locks twisted and casually draped over the shoulder, fit in perfectly with the easygoing feel of the rest of my outfit.  Because I wanted to show off the tank top without any hair covering it up, though, I’ve also worn friday’s cute Tatum hairstyle in the second photo.

Credits…
Tank top & panty set – Blowpop – Three Goddesses set
Jeans – Armidi – Grace
Boots – Naughty – Calf High Moccasins, adobe
Glasses – Naughty – Lennons, Black Dog black
Hair (image 1) – Maitreya – Green, Bistre
Hair (image 2) – friday – tatum, cynical black
Skin – LAQ Glow Trisha

COCO Gift, Maitreya Hair, and LAQ Boots

This will be a short & sweet post because it’s nearly my bedtime. 

One of my favorite stores, Coco, just announced a new group gift tonight.  It’s a cute black turtleneck!  It comes with two different sized collar prim attachments, and sleeve attachments.  Clothing is provided on all layers so that you can opt to wear it untucked as I’m wearing it in the pic below, or you can go with the shirt + underpants options to wear it tucked.

I figured my new Charli hair from Maitreya would go nicely with it, as well as the new Midcut boots from LAQ. The boots from LAQ are beautifully textured and come in a bunch of colors, I think my favorites are beige and olive.

You can click the images to see larger versions.

Oh, and one more thing before I end this post… is Lost Thereian back to creating new items for Naughty Designs?  I paid a visit recently and came across some fringed boots vendors that look really cute but I haven’t picked up any (yet).  They were in a new building that I could swear wasn’t there a month or so ago when I last visited, along with a bunch of tops and sweaters that are sorted by color:

I don’t know exactly how long these items have been out but I’m guessing they haven’t been there for too long.  The sim looks like it’s still undergoing extensive redesign, the parking lot was floating up in the air. :p

Hair – Maitreya Charli
Skin – LAQ Trisha
Sweater – COCO Group Gift Turtleneck sweater
Skirt – LAQ blue jeans skirt
Shoes – LAQ Midcut boots black

LAQ Glow Carina

LAQ released a new Glow skin a little while ago, and her name is Carina   Carina is actually one of the faces from the original Portrait collection, but given the “Glow” treatment — updated body, skin and facial features that are enhanced with a healthy “glow”, and sharpened details.  The result?  A skin that has a natural look and fresh feel to it.

Carina is available in three skintones, with eight makeups for each.  Each makeup has a bald version, and a hairbase version for wearing with certain “hairbase” hairstyles from LAQ.

Visit LAQ to try out the Carina skin demos!

Other credits…
>> in the fair tone:
hair – LAQ Imani
outfit – Last Call Femme Fatale
heels – Maitreya Gold Salience
Shot at Mont Saint Michel sim.

>> in the peach tone:
hair – Argrace Baseball Cap relaxed ponytail
lingerie – insolence clara
shoes – UBU Drunks
jacket – COCO bomber jacket
tank – fri.day cream basic cami
Shot at the Harold sim.

>> in the nougat tone:
hair – Truth Belinda
lingerie – Blowpop Jolene
Shot at private location.

Return of a classic favorite: LAQ Glow Lacie

Well, I meant to blog about the re-release of the Lacie skins at LAQ as Glow skins a while ago now, but life has been rather hectic over the past week.  (Just thinking about how crazy things were is making me tired again!)  Better late than never, though, right? 

The Lacie skins are available in four skintones, and each skintone comes with eight makeups.  You get two versions of each makeup:  bald, and hairbase for wearing with certain hairstyles.  There’s a lot of pretty details on Lacie, but the part I love about this particular skin most are her eyes:  she has deep set eyes that are framed by nicely done brows that aren’t too thick or too thin, but just right.

Anyway, enough talk… let’s just get on to the pics

You can click on the images above to see (much) larger versions of them on my flickr stream. Visit the Laqroki sim (Laqroki 154, 67, 23) to try demos of the skins.

On a side note, I never thought I’d see the day where I’d drop over 1k on a single pair of shoes in SL. Ever. But omg, I did! I splurged on a pair of Maitreya Gold shoes and I am 100% free of buyer’s remorse. These shoes boast prim toes/feet and the designers included skin presets/notes so that you can match them to most major designer skins. They’re fabulous so I *had* to show them in one of my pics <3

Other credits… >> in the milky tone image
Hair – LAQ Claudia
Top – fri.day basic cami
Shorts – fri.day denim shorts

>> in the fair tone image:
Hair – Exile Voodoo
Dress – LeeZu freebie
Shoes – Maitreya Gold Salience

>> in the peach tone image:
Hair – 69 Q.B.
Jacket – Aoharu Black short jean jacket
Bikini – Last Call Yelena gold bikini
Tattoo – Aitui Fuse
Jeans – Gearshift Maverick jeans

>> in the nougat tone image:
Hair – LAQ Imani
Top – Last Call Tatienne lacy shirt
Bag – =E.M.A.=

LAQ Glow Jessica skins

Mallory Cowen of LAQ (a.k.a. Laqroki) has released her latest installment in the Glow Skins series. Say hello to the beautiful Jessica Glow Jessica skins come in four different skintones. For each skintone, you get a pack of eight makeups. For each makeup, you get two brow color options, blonde and brown.

And now, on to the pics! I’ll refrain from writing too much, and will just let the pics do the talking. Larger versions of these images are on my flickrstream, and there will be NSFW pics after the cut:

I’ll admit, the most important thing for me in a skin is the face and so that’s almost always what I focus on, but the skins in the Glow line deserve a look from head to toe.  NSFW pics to follow after the cut…

kouse’s cyrenia

Kouse’s Sanctum has a gown out named Cyrenia, and when I saw the gowns I was particularly drawn to the jewel-toned ones. Kouse has actually made the Cyrenia in fifteen colors (amethyst, blush, champagne, dawn, forest, ice, lilac, magenta, midnight, midnight gold, mint, ruby, ocean, sapphire, snow) but I’m just going to feature three colors in this post: amethyst, magenta, and ruby.

Here’s the amethyst version:

This is the magenta version. I wanted to show the movement of the gown, too:

My favorite color is a deep, rich red, or an almost blood-red, and Kouse captured that with her ruby version of the Cyrenia gown:

Included with every gown is a jeweled veil. The gems are actually scripted so that you can change the gem texture; in the image below I’ve showcased the amethyst, citrine, sapphire, zoicite (you can click on the images to view larger versions on my flickrstream):

Here’s the entire list of gem textures that the veils come with: amethyst, ametrine, aquamarine, canary, citrine, diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, zoicite, and onyx.  Please note, the veils are no modify but you can reposition them.  I chose to wear my September hair from Laqroki to go with the veils, since the long parted bangs show off the forehead area nicely, and the long, flowing length of the style goes nicely with the romantic feel of the gowns.

I wanted to take my pics in a location appropriate for this kind of dress, so I’d headed to the Taure Ru sim.  Ends up you can’t really see Taure Ru in my pics, lol, because of the way I ended up cropping them.  Oh, well!  If you haven’t been there, though, you should pay a visit!  It’s pretty   Just be sure to read their rules for visiting and dress appropriately; the rules are not a long read nor are they difficult to adhere to.

Other credits…
Skin – Laqroki Kira
Hair – Laqroki September
Eyes – Exodi Twilight